


this moment, now

by pissedofsandwich



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: 3x09, F/M, Spoilers for Runaways Season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21801637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pissedofsandwich/pseuds/pissedofsandwich
Summary: "Are you watching porn?"Extension of the 3x09 scene. Chase and Gert kiss, talk, and kiss some more before the world ends.
Relationships: Chase Stein/Gertrude Yorkes
Comments: 10
Kudos: 118





	this moment, now

**Author's Note:**

> i just,,really need more gertchase content after that heavy finale,,
> 
> pls talk to me about runaways on my tumblr mighty-poffertjes on over on twitter @tinysriasih

"Are you watching _porn_?"

Annoyed doesn't even begin to cut it. There she was, pouring out her heart and every feeling she's felt over the last few days, and Chase has merrily ignored her in favor of—whatever it is that he's doing.

But she supposes she'd also ignored Chase's profession of love, so there's that. 

"What? No, I'm not," Chase says, half-laughing, half-panicked like Gert is going to explode at him for not paying attention to her. He shows her the iPad screen, "I'm looking up college applications. Since you mentioned you wanted to go to Smith," he smiles up at her. "And guess what? You didn't miss the late registration deadline."

Gert blinks. "You want me to go to Smith?"

"Yeah," Chase says, like it's a fact as indisputable as the color of the sky. "I mean, we have to wait until this is all over, obviously, but I think you can make it."

"And where will you go?" Gert asks.

"I don't know," he shrugs. "Something close that has a good engineering program, maybe. But anyway, you were saying something?"

Gert stares at him, at his earnest, dumb, wonderful face, the faint freckles on his cheeks, his shiny lips, and just has to kiss him.

"Oh," Chase says as they pull apart. He looks confused, and then his mouth widens, a genuine happiness that Gert hasn't seen in a while spreading over his eyes. "What was that for?"

"My answer to your I love you," Gert says.

"Wait, so we're not... seeing other people?" Chase clarifies, hopeful.

Gert shakes her head. She goes for another kiss, and Chase kisses back, pulling her close so that he sits on his lap, and Gert misses this so much, stupid to even suggest that this is something that happens just because of crazy circumstances—

Except Chase is pulling away, and a part of Gert's heart breaks. This is it, this is her payback for all those times being passive-aggressive towards him, all her self-sabotaging tendencies coming back to bite her in the ass. But Chase still keeps his hand on her waist, and looks up at her with something in his eyes that makes Gert's chest ache in the best way.

"What?" she says, hates how she sounds far too annoyed, hopes Chase understands that she's just really fucking nervous and confronting her feelings like this isn't helping.

"I don't—I mean, I feel like we need to talk about it," Chase replies. "Us. As much as I want to skip to the kissing part—"

"Then let's—"

"—I feel like we're not addressing a lot of things," Chase finishes. "I don't want us to go into this blind again. This time, I want to do it right."

"We were never blind," Gert disagrees. "Just... everything that was happening around us was crazy, and we didn't know anything except to hold on to each other."

"I left," Chase says, and Gert can see how much admitting that weighs on him. He squeezes her waist. "I left, and I got us into this mess, betrayed your trust and the others, hurt you and Molly—"

"Stop," she's putting her thumb on his lips, doesn't care that it will come off as corny, when she thinks about it later, "I also wasn't being fair to you."

"I'm sorry," Chase murmurs against her thumb, kisses it so gently it threatens Gert. "My dad—it's the first time that I felt like—things can be better, you know? He was really sick, and I thought if I came back, he would change and we would be better but it... didn't happen." He looks at her, open and vulnerable, and Gert caresses the side of his mouth with her thumb, a silent comforting gesture. "I fucked up so bad."

"You did," she presses their foreheads together. "But we're fine now. Well, our definition of fine anyway."

Chase chuckles. "We're together. That's what matters. To me, at least." 

This time, it's Chase who kisses her, soft but with meaning. Gert lets herself melt into it, lets all thoughts about the imminent end of the world fade away and focus only on this moment: them sitting on a ratty old couch in an abandoned mansion that belongs to a magician who may or may not be dead now, kissing slowly and languidly like they have all the time in the world.

Chase shifts his position and Gert goes willingly, resting her head on the dusty throw pillow, arms around Chase's neck. Chase lowers himself until they're only a breath away, and Gert blurts out, "I love you, too."

It feels inevitable, and as soon as the words come out of her mouth, Chase kisses her again, deeper this time, the kind off kiss that leaves Gert shuddering in his arms. When they let go, it's only because they need air, and Chase's face is red and his lips are obscenely pink. 

"You know," Gert says, trying to catch a breath, "Ty and Tandy are going on a cross-country roadtrip."

Chase's only answer is an absentminded hum as he kisses the back of her ear, slowly moving to her neck, the slope of her shoulders. Gert finds herself laughing, cupping Chase's face in her hands to pull him face-to-face. 

"What?" Chase asks.

"Maybe we can do that," Gert says. "Before we start college. Take Dale's truck and drive somewhere."

"Hmm," Chase kisses her collarbones. "Old Lace in the backseat?"

Gert nods, and imagines a fantasy where the truck is parked on a nondescript cliff overlooking a star-lit city, wrapped in a knit blanket next to Chase's warmth. "I'm not gonna leave her."

"Molly should come with us," Chase says. 

"Yeah," Gert says, "God knows she needs to be a kid more than we do."

"Sounds like a sound plan," Chase says against her mouth. "When this is all over, we're going first thing in the morning." He kisses the side of her jaw. "Yeah?"

"As long as it's with you," Gert agrees, and lets Chase kiss her again, again, and again with the promise of a bright tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> and then instead of going on that roadtrip chase spent the next 10 years alone to invent a time machine just so he can see gert again,,,im sad and crying rn


End file.
